The New Prosthetic
by AHeartForStories
Summary: HICCUP WHUMP! Post-RttE, Pre-Httyd 2! Hiccup built himself a new prosthetic leg and he wanted to try it out. Naturally, new creations are bound to have some kinks. Written for Bad Things Happen Bingo over on Tumblr.


_Here it is! My very first prompt from my Bad Things Happen Bingo Card over on Tumblr!_

_I actually handled this one a little bit differently than my other fics. Instead of checking the spelling and posting it immediately after finishing it, I let it rest for almost a week before checking for errors. I feel like that helped me a lot with this one._

_Constructive criticism is highly appreciated._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

**The New Prosthetic**

Hiccup felt the tiny flutters of butterflies in his stomach.

Inventing always made him feel like a kid all over again. The initial idea, sketching each design, planning them out, working with his own two hands in the forge... Whenever he smelled the charcoal of his pencils or the metal and smoke of the forge, his heart usually skipped a beat. Everyday stenches that others might find unappealing, but which brought him a sense of familiarity, joy, even comfort on a bad day.

Especially whenever he finished something new, that was when he felt the most thrilled. When a project finally came into fruition and his hard work had ultimately paid off after hours, days, sometimes even weeks of work.

It was an exhilarating kind of feeling that he never tired of and his latest work was special to him.

He made a new prosthetic for himself. A metal leg that could double as a multi-functional tool. Complete with a regular foot that allowed running, a lockpick, a foot for more difficult terrain and one that connected to Toothless' saddle.

It helped him to lay flatter and still be able to correctly manoeuvre the artificial tailfin. This, in turn, enabled them to fly even faster, it made Hiccup a smaller target, let him move his foot out of the stirrup effortlessly, moving gracefully in the sky as one simply became so much easier.

And if this new prosthetic worked, perhaps he could invent something for Gobber as well.

He wasn't too opposed to seeing more Hiccup-y devices pop up in the forge now and again.

But before Hiccup could begin on a new arm or leg for his mentor blacksmithing, he needed to test out his own metal limb first.

And that is why Hiccup had left the house so early in the morning.

Before his dad awoke, the sun was up, the local baker baked his first loaves for the market, Hiccup and Toothless were already up and out the door.

The Night Fury sniffed the new prosthetic Hiccup wore on his stump. Though unfamiliar, it smelled of his Rider and it looked like one of his contraptions as well. He knew Hiccup's handiwork by now.

"So, what do you think, Bud?" Hiccup asked, standing up from the rock he had been sitting on in order to pull it on and showed it off.

Toothless crooned, giving him a reply as he kept his gaze on it. He was impressed, amazed even! Hiccup with his genius and his dexterous hands never ceased to surprise him. Every single time the young man managed to surpass his previous creations and this was no different.

They were in the cove, the place where their friendship first started, and he remembered Hiccup having trouble climbing in and out of their little spot without his help. One of the new "feet", as they were called apparently, was supposed to help him with terrain he used to have a difficult time traversing. Snow and hidden patches of ice were especially troublesome for him.

Toothless was excited to see it work. Much like his Rider, he was always thrilled as well.

"You know, I think this might be my best work yet. And in time, I might actually be able to add on even more! Like a dagger! Gobber really enjoyed the pegleg with the hidden dagger that I gave him for his birthday." Hiccup was no stranger to insecurites, having many of them himself, but at least his ability to invent and create was something he was proud of and relied on quite often.

Toothless had heard enough. Moving, he pushed Hiccup's side with the flat top of his head and then his back, rumbling and crooning as he urged him to walk. He wanted to see this new leg in action already.

"Okay, Bud, okay! I'm going!" Hiccup chuckled and walked away.

He didn't go too far before turning around and coming back, pacing as he stared down at his feet. He wanted to truly feel the soft padding inside, see if there were already any noticeable kinks he should work on, he hoped it felt different from his previous metal leg.

And it did. Gobber had made him a wonderful leg four years ago, but this one, with the rounded off tip, allowed Hiccup to walk easier. It didn't quite work like a real heel, but he noticed he didn't walk as stiff anymore. This would do well to improve his gait.

Toothless crooned excitedly, approaching, circling and headbutting the human's shoulder. He already noticed the difference. Hiccup didn't limp quite as much as he did before either. He still limped, he was always going to, but he also managed to take note of the rounded tip's usefullness.

"So I guess you approve?" Hiccup asked him, judging by the Night Fury's reaction, his newest creation was a success so far.

Toothless purred, giving an almost human-like "yes", and licked him full on in the face.

"N-" While Hiccup was left to sputter and spit as he tried to use his red tunic to wipe his face, his armour had been left home for today, Toothless left his side. Half of that got in his mouth and it wasn't the most pleasant of tastes. Or smells for that matter.

The Night Fury wandered towards that rock Hiccup had been sitting on and gestured towards the saddle lying beside it.

It had been modified as well.

Significantly less wet, but hair still hopelessly matted to his forehead, Hiccup approached.

"Now, I guess it's time for me to show you why I took the saddle, huh, Bud?" He questioned and Toothless gave an impatient groan.

It has been days since their last flight. His Rider had told him then that he wanted to modify it and Toothless hadn't been too opposed, but now he was dying to be back up in the air again. He knew the other felt the same way.

Grabbing the saddle, Hiccup helped his dragon pull it on again.

"Bud, stay still, please? I can't put it on you if you move that much." He chuckled. It was hard for both of them to keep from moving, excited as they were.

As Hiccup pulled on the last buckle, Toothless noticed that the stirrup on his left wasn't quite the same as it once was.

It wasn't a stirrup at all anymore, there was nothing for Hiccup's metal foot to attach itself too.

His Rider noticed the dragon's confusion, Toothless crooned and gestured with his snout to the lack of a stirrup, lifting up his left foreleg. Tapping his shoulder, Hiccup drew his attention again.

"Watch this, Bud." He sat back down again, placed a hand on the wooden cup of his prosthetic and gave it a twist. The new metallic foot disappeared and in its place came a different kind of creation, something that looked like it could attach itself to the saddle and then the lack of a regular stirrup made sense to Toothless.

Gurgling happily, Toothless urged Hiccup to stand and get in the saddle already. It was time to test the new leg up in the sky.

Hiccup didn't need to think twice before climbing up, Toothless practically bumped him onto his back with his snout nudging his Rider's rear.

Once seated and secure, Hiccup clicked his leg into the new stirrup, enjoying the satisfying 'click' it made, and grabbed hold of the handles. The two braced themselves and with a big flap of the dragon's wings and a jump, they were up.

* * *

After spending the past few days stuck on the ground, the sky was a wonderful place to be in again. A welcoming place. Though it did make Hiccup wonder how he managed to live the first fifteen years of his life without Toothless and their ability to fly together as one.

Hiccup inhaled deeply and then breathed out again, the always present scent of the salty sea down below filling his nostrils. The wind combed through his hair and his clothes billowed. Toothless did the same thing, savouring the soft carressing of his scales and the near weightlessness of his body so high up in the air.

It felt good to be here. An unseen weight seemed to lift off their shoulders, like they were free again.

There were other dragons up there with them. Nightmares and Nadders who had also made Berk their home these past couple of years. It felt good to be more amongst them too. Off the ground and into the air, where they both belonged.

Hiccup adjusted his prosthetic slightly, approving of how it held up so far. Toothless raised a foreleg as he took a look, he purred.

"Yeah, it's holding up great so far!" Hiccup answered, feeling confident in his newest creation. This new method to connect his metal leg and the saddle together, it was to further improve their manoeuvrability. So far it wasn't too difficult to steer Toothless' artificial tailfin with it.

But they needed to really test it. Now that they knew it could hold up in a normal flight, it was time to find some way to experiment and truly see where its limits lie.

And Hiccup found just the thing.

"Hey Bud, look up there!" Toothless looked up and saw what his Rider was talking about.

A bunch of young Nadders, adolescents, playing in the sky. They were chasing each other.

"Should we ask them if we can join in?" Hiccup knew these Nadders and they knew them. He had watched them grow up this past year.

Toothless roared to draw their attention and flew higher, the small group of six halted momentarily to watch the two familiar Dragon Riders approach.

Nadders were born with lighter colours than they usually have as adults. They were slowly shedding their pastel scales for a more vibrant hide.

"Hey guys, mind if we join?" Hiccup wasn't so sure he'd have had the guts to just go up to a group of friends and ask this in the past, before Toothless. But not only had he grown more confident, these were also a group of dragons. A people he felt more at home with.

And like he and Toothless had hoped, the six adolescent Nadders chirped eagerly in agreement. One did a roll in the sky and off they were, chattering of teasings and taunts as they dared the two to chase them. It was a game of tag apparently.

"Come on, Bud." Hiccup adjusted himself in the saddle, excitement swelling up in his chest. A deep and eager rumble vibrated from within the Night Fury, Hiccup could feel it from his position on his back.

Though the young dragons flew far and fast, it wasn't hard for them to catch up.

This game of tag, while also commonly played by Viking children, was a little bit different than from what Hiccup used to play as a very young boy.

High up in the air, dragons couldn't physically touch one another without the risk of downing each other. The slowest of the dragons would be caught and roared at, making them the one who was "it". No actual tagging, just roaring as one dragon passed the other by.

It wasn't hard for Hiccup and Toothless to catch up to the Nadders and relieve themselves of the role of "it". Though they were fast, a Night Fury was faster. One half of this Dragon Rider duo being this exact species could almost be called cheating.

It was virtually impossible to catch Hiccup and Toothless with how in-tune the two were with each other. They sped up, slowed down, dived and swerved, but adolescent dragons liked a challenge. The young Nadders knew before accepting their request to join the game that they would be difficult to catch.

A roar of laughter left Hiccup as he and Toothless barrel rolled in the sky and it was like music to the latter's ears. Their hearts soared together. Those days spend stuck on the ground, even if it was for one of his projects, had been much too long.

Though the world was spinning, Hiccup looked towards where the Nadder youngster had been left behind and noticed there was already quite a bit of distance between them. Dizziness or nausea, he felt neither of them.

"Okay, Bud, time to turn back." Toothless could hear his Rider even through the loud rush of the wind. The barrel rolls gradually ceased up high in the air and the two started a freefall.

The way down was a long one, but it was over all too soon. Falling with the wind tossing them around, they never felt more in control.

As the ground rapidly approached down below, Hiccup gave his Bud a warning pat on his neck to even out.

That is when their game came to an abrupt end.

Toothless spread his wide wings, Hiccup put the tailfin in the right position and with the sudden stop in velocity, the shock made a tear in the leather straps keeping the saddle in place.

With a yelp, Hiccup was thrown forwards and the tailfin shut itself. The two were in a freefall once more, the adolescent Nadders aware of the trouble, but too far away to be of much help.

The ground was much too close.

"Tooth-" Hiccup never felt the impact. The moment they crashed, it became dark before his eyes.

* * *

He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but Hiccup was pretty sure he couldn't have been out for more than a couple of minutes.

Lying in the grass, sore and bruised all over, he could hear his Night Fury's crooning as he drifted back to the world of the conscious after having left it for just a moment. Toothless' voice helped lead him back.

"Hmm, Tooth?" He slurred, moving just a tad to roll onto his back. He had been lying on his side and he wanted to open his eyes, face his Bud.

Toothless gave a quick warning growl and that was when a sharp pain abruptly and agonizingly ran through him, starting at his leg and moving up through his hip.

A strangled cry left him, his face contorted in pain and he ended up on his back anyway, breathing deeply as tears sprung to his eyes.

He opened them and the first thing he saw was Toothless staring back at him, his nose twitching as it did four years earlier when he woke up after the battle with the Red Death.

Toothless crooned and pressed his snout into his Rider's freckled cheek before bringing it down to sniff his body to seek out any hidden injuries. His attention consistently on just one part of Hiccup's body.

Hiccup lifted his head up to look down at himself to see what his dragon was staring at and cringed.

His left leg was not supposed to be at that angle.

His new prosthetic, the clasp that kept it attached to the saddle was supposed to have come loose during a fall, allowing Toothless to grab hold of him safely and saving them both from a possibly very fatal blow. That had been the biggest problem with his previous replacement, a problem he had attempted to fix with this new one.

Failing its purpose, Hiccup found that his leg and Toothless' saddle were still connected. As a result, his left knee, the weaker one of the two, had been painfully dislocated.

Hiccup continued to take deep breaths, both in and out. The pain didn't lessen one bit. He could only imagine what it looked like without his leather leggings.

It had already been there when he woke up, but it hadn't been as severe as it was now after he's moved. Toothless was lying next to him, remaining still because he'd realized the state of his Rider's leg while he was out and didn't want to make it any worse.

Lifting his head up for another look at their situation, still attempting to calm his laboured pants, Hiccup wondered just how they were going to get out of this one. Every little move made hurt so much.

But he found the reason for their crash. A strap on the saddle, the stitching worn by strain and weather had torn and come loose. He had been meaning to replace them.

"Gods..." He moaned and put his head back down. This was such a mess they were in now.

Toothless prodded his cheek with his snout. He wanted to provide comfort, but instead the movement made, though it was so little, hurt so bad.

"Toothless!" Hiccup cried out, but jumping at the pain only made the pain even worse. This was becoming an awful cycle.

Mumbling an apology, Toothless put his head down, deciding to try even harder to stay still. Humans didn't have as high a pain tolerance as dragons did and this was a particularly nasty injury.

Hiccup needed a moment. Closing his eyes, he tried breathing through the agony. So long as neither of them moved, it was bearable.

The two Dragon Riders than heard the chirping of worried dragons and looked up to see the young Nadders approaching.

The group of six landed and much like humans surrounded them in concern. Hiccup could've sworn he saw them cringe in their own way upon seeing the state he was in. Even they knew a human's leg wasn't supposed to bend that way.

Though he didn't want an audience, Hiccup supposed they might be able to help in some way. They chattered amongst themselves and Toothless, seemingly discussing what to do next.

"Hey-hey!" Hiccup moaned, moving carefully to lean on his elbows and trying his best not to look at his knee.

He could ask them to get help, to find the other Riders. He knew Astrid and Snotlout had patrol today.

But the adolescent Nadders apparently already had some ideas of their own. Chittering and screeching, hissing and flexing their dangerous spines, they appeared to be arguing. Hiccup's call for their attention fell on deaf ears.

Hiccup often found himself wishing he could understand what dragons were saying and this was one such time. What could they possibly be having such a heated discussion about?

By the time Hiccup realized one of them bend down and reached for his leg, it was already too late for both him and Toothless to stop them when a green Nadder took his prosthetic and pulled it loose. That had been their master plan to get the Dragon and Rider untangled from each other.

All six of the Deadly Nadders jumped back when a pained scream tore out from Hiccup's lungs. It appeared they hoped pulling on the fake part of the leg wouldn't hurt as much.

Now lying flat on his back again, Hiccup covered both of his eyes and clenched his teeth down on one another.

It hurt. That was all he could think about, how much that hurt.

Removing one hand, he peered at the Nadders through his blurred vision.

"I'm... I'm okay." He was lying and choking up, but he didn't want them to feel guilty. It helped the green Nadder feel better again as it had shrunken back after hearing him scream.

Now free, Toothless moved, standing up and sniffing his Rider's face, but Hiccup covered it again, breathing in and out deeply in the hopes of coping with the burning and throbbing sensation left in his knee.

The Night Fury gazed at the limb. Although the angle wasn't quite as ugly anymore, he knew that didn't lessen the pain in any way.

He faced the young Nadders and with a roar angrily chased them away, they had done more than enough already. The youngsters, not willing to argue with this dragon in particular, left in a hurry, nearly tripping over each other as they flapped their wings and made way for the skies.

"You didn't have to chase them away like that, they just wanted to help." Toothless could hear Hiccup mutter, but ignored his words. His Rider couldn't have heard it, but he had warned the six that it was a terrible idea.

Looking up into the sky, Toothless charged a plasma blast and send it flying. Its purpose was to call for help. With all the dragons and Berkians around, somebody was bound to see it. Hopefully, one of the other Riders was already nearby.

Knowing that it couldn't even be minutes before help would arrive, Toothless decided to settle by Hiccup's side again.

Though somewhat recovered, there was still very little Hiccup could do besides lying there and scratching his Night Fury's chin. It was something he did for his own comfort as well.

Help couldn't be far.

Holding his breath, Hiccup managed to sit up and Toothless lied down behind him, allowing his Viking to lean back against him.

Looking up, they noticed that one Snotlout Jorgenson on top of a Hookfang Monstrous Nightmare were already headed their way.

Hiccup could only sigh. The sooner they got his leg taken care off, the better.

His dad and Astrid would chastise him and Gothi would probably advice him to stay at home or risk a whack of her staff, but Hiccup could only think of one thing, improve his prosthetic.

Next time they test it out, he'd make sure to put it through more thorough tests before taking to the sky once again.


End file.
